The recent political moves in Congress to remove the federal supports for ethanol, including the blenders’ credit and the import tariff, have justifiably created some question about the profitability of ethanol given high prices for corn. The price of crude oil and its derivative gasoline have influence over the pricing of ethanol. Is the high price of ethanol enough revenue to maintain profitability for ethanol refiners?...More

We still have not had any rain since July 1 when we had a range of 0.3-0.9 in. Three weeks without rain and the extreme heat this past week has taken its toll on the local corn crop. The majority of local cornfields have been pollinating during this period. With the high demand for water, the corn crop has been wilting everyday for quite some time....More

Purdue University Weed Scientist Glenn Nice says farmers need to take precautions to prevent carryover of mesotrione, an active ingredient in several corn herbicides, into the following year's soybean crop....More

Severe thunderstorms early Monday, July 11, flattened over 100, 000 acres of corn from southern Story County to Dubuque County in east-central Iowa. Much of the corn was at late vegetative stages, which are critical stages of development. There have been several questions about possibly applying fungicide to these fields....More

During the past week, tassels and silks began appearing in cornfields that were planted during mid-May or earlier. Corn planted in early June may not be not be tasselling and silking until early August. There is usually some variability in pollination within cornfields and the pollen-shed period extends from one to two weeks....More

In the past week Iowa State University Extension received numerous calls from farmers, agricultural chemical dealers and industry representatives regarding waterhemp and horseweed/marestail surviving glyphosate applications made in late June and early July....More

Argentina’s government expects to start corn exports to China with the country’s 2011-2012 crop, which will come to market starting in February. Argentina plans on signing a final agreement with China sometime between July and November to set the framework for the first shipments, Agriculture sub-secretary Oscar Solis said in a weekend press release....More